Aftermarket vehicle telematics devices are devices that can be installed within a vehicle and used to monitor information regarding operation of the vehicle. Vehicle telematics devices are used to collect data for many different purposes, such as for fleet management and usage based insurance. As such, vehicle telematics devices can collect many different types of data such as, but not limited to, vehicle operating characteristics (e.g., fuel level, speed, brake application, RPM), location, and temperature. Many vehicle telematics devices connect to an on-board diagnostic (OBD) port of a vehicle to obtain information from the vehicle electronics bus. With a connection to the vehicle electronics bus, the vehicle telematics device can monitor sensors and control components for the vehicle to obtain its operation characteristics.